Hot Tea Hollaback

Living in New York (and Philadelphia before that) I’ve been harassed almost on a daily basis. Most of the time I walk away from the incident feeling upset that I didn’t or couldn’t make my harasser feel as violated and threatened as he made me feel. So not too long ago, as I was returning to my office from a Starbucks break, a man leaned into my path and loudly said “SEXY.” He began to walk behind me. I wish there were a way to describe how thick and disgusting his voice was. Combined with the fact that he was raping me with his eyes and that at least 3 other men had tried to talk to me on my way to Starbucks, I was enraged. I turned around immediately and made like I was going to throw my hot tea into his face. He shrieked, apologized, and backed off.

I’ve been getting a ton of backlash for doing this (especially from male friends, no surprise there), although I never would have actually thrown the tea on him–not unless he had put his hands on me. He was following me, and was behaving the same way as men who had grabbed or touched me in the past. I have a right to walk wherever I please without being sexually harassed, and I also reserve the right to pose a physical threat to anyone who poses one to me. The only thing I’m sorry for is that I couldn’t snap a picture of him too.